Applied Materials, Inc.

Kenny King-tai Ngan

Jaim Nulman

Seshadri Ramaswami

Bradley Owen Stimson

Zheng Xu

Dan A Marohl

Murali K Narasimhan

Edith Ong

John C Forster

Roderick Craig Mosely

Xing Chen

Gongda Yao

Nitin Khurana

Tse-Yong Yao

Peter Satitpunwaycha

Barney M Cohen

Lisa L Yang

David H Loo

Debabrata Ghosh

Nelson A Yee

Jingang Su

Barry Hogan

Jr-Jyan Chen

Mohamed A Al-Sharif

Lawrence P Bourget

John Urbahn

A bipolar electrostatic chuck containing apparatus, and a concomitant method, for balancing an electrostatic force that the bipolar electrostatic chuck imparts upon a workpiece. More specifically, the bipolar electrostatic chuck contains a chuck body having a pair of electrodes embedded therein, a primary power supply and an offset power supply. Each electrode within the bipolar electrostatic chuck is respectively connected to a terminal on the primary power. Based upon a voltage produced by the primary power supply and a bias voltage of the workpiece, an offset voltage is applied by the offset power supply to one of the terminals, thus balancing the electrostatic force applied to the workpiece.

Method and apparatus for balancing an electrostatic force produced by an electrostatic chuck

An ion deposition sputtering process for producing a titanium nitride film having a resistivity less than about 70 .mu..OMEGA.-cm is disclosed, which comprises the steps of: (1) adjusting a percentage of ionization of a gas phase mixture to a predetermined range by adjusting the power to an ionization source; and (2) adjusting a deposition rate of said film on a substrate to a predetermined range so that a combination of said percentage of ionization of said deposition mixture and said deposition rate produces said film.

Method of producing smooth titanium nitride films having low resistivity

A shield for a DC magnetron sputtering reactor, particularly advantageous for reliably igniting the plasma used in sputtering a ferromagnetic material such as cobalt or nickel. The grounded shield includes a slanted portion separated from the beveled periphery of the target by a small gap operating as a dark space. The shield also includes a straight cylindrical portion surrounding the main processing area. The slanted portion is joined to the cylindrical portion at a knee According to one embodiment of the invention, the knee is located greater than 9 mm from the face of the target and at a radial position at least 1 mm inward of the outer periphery of the target face.

Sputtering chamber shield promoting reliable plasma ignition

The invention generally provides an apparatus that reduces backside sputtering of the substrate in a pre-clean chamber and other etch chambers. The invention also provides an apparatus that reduces flaking of material from the film formed on the surfaces of the process kit and extends the specified lifetime of a process kit. One aspect of the invention provides an apparatus for supporting a substrate, comprising a support pedestal contacting a central portion of the substrate and an insulator surrounding the support pedestal, the insulator having a beveled portion extending from a circumferential edge of the substrate.

Pedestal insulator for a pre-clean chamber

I have found that in order to improve sheet resistance uniformity of metal nitride films, such as titanium nitride, the chamber must be operated at low pressure. The nitrogen gas flow rates required to deposit metal nitride is determined, and the pumping speed in the chamber is increased to produce uniform films at low pressure.

Deposition of titanium nitride films having improved uniformity

The resistivity of titanium nitride films is reduced, by about 40% (to less than about 60 .mu.Ohm-cm), for example; and, the film surface roughness is reduced, by about 45% (to less than 6 .ANG.) by using a combination of particular process conditions during deposition of the film. In particular, titanium atoms produced by impact of inert gas ions upon a titanium target travel through a high density, inductively coupled rf plasma, an ion metal plasma (IMP), in which the titanium atoms are at least partially ionized. The ionized titanium ions are contacted with ionized nitrogen atoms also present in the processing chamber. The resultant gas phase composition is contacted with the surface of a semiconductor substrate on which a titanium nitride barrier layer is to be deposited. By controlling the gas phase deposition mixture composition, the quantity of the deposition mixture contacting the substrate surface over a given time period, and the pressure in the process vessel, the resistivity and surface roughness of the titanium nitride layer is adjusted. The resistivity of the titanium nitride barrier layer is principally determined by the crystal orientation of the titanium nitride. The more nearly the crystal orientation approaches 100% of the {200} orientation (the lower the percentage of {111} orientation), the lower the film resistivity. Crystal orientation is obtained by increasing the ionized content of the deposition mixture and by slowing the rate of deposition of the titanium nitride film (barrier layer). The surface roughness of the titanium nitride layer is reduced principally by reducing the pressure in the process vessel, which affects the film formation dynamics. An increase in ionized content of the deposition mixture helps reduce surface roughness until an inflection point is reached, after which surface roughness increases with increased ionized content.

Smooth titanium nitride films having low resistivity

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for preferential PVD conductor fill in an integrated circuit structure. The present invention utilizes a high density plasma for sputter deposition of a conductive layer on a patterned substrate, and a pulsed DC power source capacitively coupled to the substrate to generate an ion current at the surface of the substrate. The ion current prevents sticking of the deposited material to the field areas of the patterned substrate, or etches deposited material from the field areas to eliminate crowning or cusping problems associated with deposition of a conductive material in a trench, hole or via formed on the substrate.

Use of pulsed-DC wafer bias for filling vias/trenches with metal in HDP

A hole filling process for an integrated circuit in which wiring levels in the integrated circuit are connected by a narrow hole, especially where the underlying level is silicon. First, a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process fills a barrier tri-layer into the hole. The barrier tri-layer includes sequential layers of Ti, TiN, and graded TiN.sub.x, grown under conditions of a high-density plasma. Thereafter, a first aluminum layer is PVD deposited under conditions of a high-density plasma. A filling aluminum layer is then deposited by standard PVD techniques.

Aluminum hole filling method using ionized metal adhesion layer

A continuous process for the deposition of robust titanium-containing barrier layers comprises sputtering in a single substrate sputtering chamber a first layer of titanium, sputtering a layer of titanium nitride thereover, treating the titanium nitride layer with a plasma containing oxygen while continuing to sputter the titanium target to deposit a thin layer of TiON, and finally sputtering a layer of titanium over the titanium nitride. The latter step removes impurities from the titanium target, preventing poisoning of the target. Thus subsequent substrates can be continuously processed in said chamber without degrading the barrier properties or poisoning the titanium target.

Continuous process for forming improved titanium nitride barrier layers

An RF coil for a plasma chamber in a semiconductor fabrication system is conditioned to reduce shedding of particulate matter onto the workpiece. In the illustrated embodiment, the coil is sputtered prior to sputtering the target so as to remove oxides and other contaminants from the surface of the coil. As a result, shedding of particulate matter from target material subsequently deposited onto the coil is reduced.

Method of reducing generation of particulate matter in a sputtering

A method of stabilizing chemical vapor deposited titanium nitride layers so that they can withstand a subsequent high temperature deposition of aluminum which comprises heating said film in nitrogen containing from about 3-15% by volume of oxygen. When aluminum is deposited over the treated titanium nitride film, the barrier properties of the titanium nitride are maintained up to temperatures of at least about 575.degree. C.

Treatment of a titanium nitride layer to improve resistance to elevated

The resistivity of titanium nitride films is reduced, by about 40% (to less than about 60 .mu. Ohm-cm), for example; and, the film surface roughness is reduced, by about 45% (to less than 6 .ANG.) by using a combination of particular process conditions during deposition of the film by an ion-deposition sputtering process.

Golden TiN films having uniform sheet resistance are deposited from a plasma sputtering chamber by initially saturating the chamber with nitrogen using high nitrogen gas flow rates and then reducing the nitrogen gas flow rates and reducing the pressure in the chamber during the deposition step.

Method for depositing golden titanium nitride

The aluminum &lt;111&gt; crystal orientation content of an aluminum interconnect layer or the copper &lt;111&gt; crystal orientation content of a copper interconnect can be maintained at a consistently high value during the processing of an entire series of semiconductor substrates in a given process chamber. To provide the stable and consistent aluminum &lt;111&gt; content, or the stable and consistent copper &lt;111&gt; content, it is necessary that the barrier layer structure underlying the aluminum or the copper have a consistent crystal orientation throughout the processing of the entire series of substrates, as well. We have determined that to ensure the consistent crystal orientation content of the barrier layer structure, it is necessary to form the first layer of the barrier layer structure to have a minimal thickness of at least about 150 .ANG., to compensate for irregularities in the crystal orientation which may by present during the initial deposition of this layer. As an alternative to increasing the thickness of the first layer of the barrier layer structure, this first layer can be deposited a low process chamber pressure, so that harmful irregularities in the crystal orientation are eliminated.

Method of forming a barrier layer which enables a consistently highly

A method of precleaning a silicon wafer to remove a layer of native silicon oxide thereon comprising adding a mixture of argon and oxygen to a plasma etch chamber including a wafer to be cleaned mounted on a cathode in said chamber, while maintaining the pressure in the chamber below about 3 millitorr. The oxygen is added to react with silicon atoms in the plasma but not with silicon atoms of the single crystal silicon wafer. The presence of oxygen in the plasma at low pressure ensures steady plasma generation and uniform etching across the wafer.

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Kenny King-tai Ngan